OverviewA 40-year-old man ignores social expectations and enters himself in a spelling bee competition intended for young students. Having never completed the eighth grade himself, he is technically still eligible and exploits the loophole. Despite criticism, he wins regional contests and continues his quirky quest onward to a national spelling bee. His inappropriateness in compounded by his offensive language directed toward children. He finds an unlikely ally in one of the young competitors, who was placed in the competition only because of his father's expectations. As it turns out, the older competitor had experienced an emotionally absent father. The two competitors both gain insight into the reasons behind their shared disdain for the formality of a spelling bee.